Entertainment system for casino wagering

Abstract

Systems and methods for implementing a blackjack game, the methods including providing a physical blackjack table and at least one physical deck of cards, providing a paytable with a plurality of numbers of cards of a specific suit and a respective payout, receiving a main wager and a side wager from a player using physical chips, dealing a reference hand from the at least one physical deck of cards, determining a number of cards in the reference hand that are of the specific suit, providing predetermined side wager resolution rules, and resolving the side wager using the predetermined side wager resolution rules. The predetermined side wager resolution rules include paying a payout on the side wager using the paytable if the number of cards is at least a predetermined number and collecting the side wager if the number of cards is not at least the predetermined number.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method for implementing a blackjack game, the method comprising:
 providing a physical blackjack gaming table, the physical blackjack gaming table having thereon a discrete first wagering area corresponding to placement of a main wager, a discrete second wagering area corresponding to placement of a side wager on a reference hand, a discrete hand area corresponding to placement of the reference hand, and a discrete paytable area corresponding to a paytable, wherein each of the first wagering area, the second wagering area, the hand area, and the paytable area are different from each other and correspond to different areas of the physical blackjack gaming table; 
 providing at least one physical deck of cards, each card of the at least one physical deck of cards having at least a suit from a plurality of suits; 
 providing the paytable in the paytable area, the paytable including a plurality of numbers of cards of a specific suit and a respective payout for each number of cards of the specific suit from the plurality of numbers of cards of the specific suit; and 
 using the physical blackjack gaming table, the at least one physical deck of cards, and the paytable to implement the blackjack game comprising:
 receiving, from a player using first physical gaming chips having a first monetary value, a main wager in the first wagering area, and a side wager in the second wagering area; 
 dealing, into the hand area and from the at least one physical deck of cards, a plurality of cards corresponding to the reference hand; 
 determining a number of cards in the dealt reference hand that are of the specific suit; 
 providing predetermined side wager resolution rules which comprise:
 (i) if the determined number of cards of the specific suit in the reference hand is at least a predetermined number, then the side wager wins and paying a payout on the side wager using the paytable based on the determined number of cards of the specific suit in the reference hand, wherein the payout comprises one or more second physical gaming chips having a second monetary value, and 
 (ii) if the number of cards of the specific suit in the reference hand is not at least the predetermined number, then the side wager loses and collecting one or more of the first physical gaming chips corresponding to the side wager; and 
 resolving the side wager according to the predetermined side wager resolution rules. 
 
 
 
     
     
       2. The method as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the specific suit is diamonds. 
     
     
       3. The method as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the reference hand is dealt to a dealer. 
     
     
       4. The method as recited in  claim 3 , wherein the predetermined side wager resolution rules include collecting the side wager in response to the dealer standing with the reference hand having a value of 21 or less. 
     
     
       5. The method as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the reference hand is dealt to the player. 
     
     
       6. The method as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the payout on the side wager is a function of the side wager amount. 
     
     
       7. The method as recited in  claim 6 , wherein the payout on the side wager according to the paytable increases as the number of cards of the specific suit in the reference hand increases. 
     
     
       8. The method as recited in  claim 1  further comprising:
 receiving a second side wager from the player using physical chips; 
 dealing a second reference hand different from the reference hand; 
 determining a number of cards in the second reference hand that are of the specific suit; and 
 resolving the second side wager based on the predetermined side wager resolution rules and the second reference hand. 
 
     
     
       9. The method as recited in  claim 1 , wherein at least one processor monitors the reference hand, determines the number of cards in the reference hand that are of the specific suit, and resolves the side wager using the predetermined side wager resolution rules. 
     
     
       10. The method as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the reference hand includes at least an initial hand of two dealt cards from the at least one physical deck of cards and any subsequently dealt cards combined with the initial hand. 
     
     
       11. A gaming system for implementing a blackjack game, the system comprising:
 a physical blackjack gaming table configured for play of the blackjack game using at least one physical deck of cards, the physical blackjack gaming table having thereon a discrete first wagering area corresponding to placement of a main wager, a discrete second wagering area corresponding to placement of a side wager on a reference hand, a discrete hand area corresponding to placement of the reference hand, and a discrete paytable area corresponding to a paytable, wherein each of the first wagering area, the second wagering area, the hand area and the paytable area are different from each other and correspond to different areas of the physical blackjack gaming table; wherein each card of the at least one physical deck of cards has at least a suit from a plurality of suits; and 
 a paytable including a plurality of numbers of cards of a specific suit and a respective payout for each number of cards of the specific suit from the plurality of numbers of cards of the specific suit, wherein the payable is visibly presented in the paytable area of the physical blackjack gaming table; 
 wherein the blackjack game implemented using the physical blackjack gaming table, the at least one physical deck of cards, and the paytable include a method for resolving side wagers, the method comprising:
 receiving, from a player using first physical gaming chips having a first monetary value, a main wager in the first wagering area and a side wager in the second wagering area; 
 dealing, into the hand area and from the at least one physical deck of cards, a plurality of cards corresponding to the reference hand from the at least one physical deck of cards; 
 determining a number of cards in the dealt reference hand that are of the specific suit; 
 providing predetermined side wager resolution rules which comprise:
 (i) if the determined, number of cards of the specific suit in the reference hand is at least a predetermined number, then the side wager wins and paying a payout on the side wager using the paytable based on the determined number of cards of the specific suit in the reference hand, wherein the payout comprises one or more second physical gaming chips having a second monetary value, and 
 (ii) if the number of cards of the specific suit in the reference hand is not at least the predetermined number, then the side wager loses and collecting one or more of the first physical gaming chips corresponding to the side wager; and 
 
 resolving the side wager according to the predetermined side wager resolution rules. 
 
 
     
     
       12. The gaming system as recited in  claim 11 , wherein the specific suit is diamonds. 
     
     
       13. The gaming system as recited in  claim 11 , wherein the reference hand is dealt to a dealer. 
     
     
       14. The gaming system as recited in  claim 13 , wherein the predetermined side wager resolution rules include collecting the side wager in response to the dealer standing with the reference hand having a value of 21 or less. 
     
     
       15. The gaming system as recited in  claim 11 , wherein the reference hand is dealt to the player. 
     
     
       16. The gaming system as recited in  claim 11 , wherein the payout on the side wager is a function of the side wager amount. 
     
     
       17. The gaming system as recited in  claim 11 , wherein method of the blackjack game further comprises:
 receiving a second side wager from the player using physical chips; 
 dealing a second reference hand different from the reference hand; 
 determining a number of cards in the second reference hand that are of the specific suit; and 
 resolving the second side wager based on the predetermined side wager resolution rules and the second reference hand. 
 
     
     
       18. The gaming system as recited in  claim 11  further comprising at least one processor configured to:
 monitor the reference hand; 
 determine the number of cards in the reference hand that are of the specific suit; and 
 resolve the side wager using the predetermined side wager resolution rules. 
 
     
     
       19. The gaming system as recited in  claim 11 , wherein the reference hand includes at least an initial hand of two dealt cards from the at least one physical deck of cards and any subsequently dealt cards combined with the initial hand.